👉 March 18, 2026, 7:00–8:30 p.m. at the Haus der Universität in Düsseldorf (“University House”)

You will be able to listen to presentations on the global food situation, the development of disease-resistant plants, and the role of mutations in plant adaptability.

Afterward, visitors can learn about the project and get hands-on experience to get a better understanding of plant research.

The world’s population is growing, and climate change and plant diseases are affecting global harvests. How can we help to ensure strong yields and food security in the future?

The @healthycrops.bsky.social project at @hhu.de invite you to an evening of engaging short presentations.

PCR or short-read sequencing may miss partial insertions from transformation vectors. Such fragments could reclassify plants as GMOs, with major regulatory and reputational risks. Long-read WGS captures entire insertion regions, and eliminates false positives.
#genomeediting #plantscience

Genome editing can revolutionize agriculture, but only if we ensure it is safe and transparent.
Our comment in Nature Biotech highlights why long-read whole genome sequencing should be the standard to confirm that genome-edited plants are free of foreign DNA.
🔗 buff.ly/zrgWbn4

Diagnostic kit for rice blight resistance - Nature Biotechnology Strategic deployment of blight-resistant rice lines is enabled by a molecular diagnostic kit.

🌾 #LabtoLeaf: Not all rice blight is the same.
We created a diagnostic kit that identifies the precise Xoo strain in blight-ridden rice plants. This allows to inform planting strategies and means resistance to be locally matched.
Read more on how it works: buff.ly/KjOoRKJ
#RiceBlight #PlantScience

Differentiation of Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae in vitro and during rice leaf infection www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10....

Fig. 5. Virulence assay with constructed designer transcription activator-like effectors (dTALEs) in sweet orange leaves: Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri (Xcc) strains wild type (WT), XccpthA4::Tn5, XccpthA4::Tn5 dTALECsLOB1, and XccpthA4::Tn5 dTALEs for putative CsLOB1 target genes were infiltrated into fully expanded young leaves of Valencia sweet orange, which were evaluated for the symptoms at 14 and 21 days postinoculation (dpi). Representative results were chosen from three independent experiments. Inoculation of leaves with different strains was conducted as illustrated in Figure 3A.

Just Published: "The TALE PthA4 of Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri Indirectly Activates an Expansin Gene CsEXP2 and an Endoglucanase CsEG1 via CsLOB1 to Cause Citrus Canker Symptoms," by Rikky Rai and Nian Wang. Learn more: https://doi.org/10.1094/MPMI-03-25-0030-R

🌾 Lab to Leaf: Insights in Plant Biology 🌱
🌍 Rice feeds more than half the world. But did you know that over 90% of it is grown in Asia? Using USDA's Rice Outlook (buff.ly/w9IYfTy) you can have a closer look at the yield production of different countries on the globe.
#LabtoLeaf #Plantscience #Rice

(3/3) Eliza plays a central role in the project: Her latest efforts focused on testing for absence of transgenes using innovative biosafety protocols, while also verifying the precision and heritability of the blight resistance for our edited rice lines.
#IamHealthyCrops #PlantScience #RiceResearch

(2/3) Her passion is, among others, research into the complex world of the root microbiome:
"I choose to work in this field because it allows me to be explorative and creative; and the scientific community is so inviting."

(1/3) 🌾 Meet Dr. Eliza Loo, group leader at HHU and senior scientists involved in the #HealthyCrops Project.

Eliza brings the combination of her enthusiasm for plant-microbe interactions with a strong interdisciplinary skill set of bioinformatics, genetics, and plant physiology to the project.

We at #HealthyCrops are building on this legacy, engineering disease resistance into elite varieties like Swarna-Sub1.

As pests and climate threats evolve, resilience must too.
What traits do you see as key for future rice? 🌾

Submergence Tolerant Rice: SUB1’s Journey from Landrace to Modern Cultivar - Rice Rice landraces tolerant of up to 2 weeks of complete submergence were collected from farmers’ fields in the 1950s. Success in fine mapping of SUBMERGENCE 1 (SUB1), a robust quantitative trait locus…

@irriofficial.bsky.social breeders introgressed SUB1A into elite varieties like Swarna, IR64, and Samba Mahsuri, creating flood-tolerant rice that survives up to 2 weeks submerged.

Since 2009, these lines have supported millions of farmers across South & Southeast Asia. Read more: buff.ly/IjQiQMC

🌾 #LabtoLeaf: How does rice survive floods? It waits for drier times.

The SUB1A gene, discovered in the Indian landrace FR13A, helps rice conserve energy underwater through a survival strategy called quiescence: it pauses growth until floodwaters recede.

#PlantScience #Rice

(3/3) Currently, he is working on tracking different Xanthomonas strains and their evolutionary patterns across West and East Africa. Alvaro's research helps to track blight epidemics as well as inform our targeted resistance strategies to stay one step ahead.

#IamHealthyCrops #PlantScience

(2/3) “I am studying how bacteria evolve to infect plants, how they break down resistance, and the impact of domestication in the plant-pathogen-interaction. At first I was fascinated by the immune system of plants, but once I started working on how bacteria evolve to counteract it, I was in awe.”

(1/3) 🌿 Meet Dr. Alvaro Pérez-Quintero, one of our researchers at IRD in France.

Alvaro’s work focuses on how plant pathogens evolve, specifically how bacteria like Xanthomonas adapt to overcome plant resistance, and how these insights can help us build durable resistance strategies.

Bacterial blight threatens global rice yields. By editing SWEET gene promoters, we block the pathogen’s entry route and give rice broad resistance. Whole-genome sequencing confirmed the absence of foreign DNA, meeting criteria for regulatory exemption.

Removal of Transgenes and Evaluation of Yield Penalties in Genome Edited Bacterial Blight Resistant Rice Varieties Bacterial blight (BB) of rice, caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo), is one of the major drivers of yield losses in Africa and Asia. Xoo secretes TAL-effectors (TALe) that induce host SWEET ....

New publication from Healthy Crops!
Our latest study in Plant Biotechnology Journal reports that our #genome-edited #rice varieties which are resistant to bacterial blight, are free of external DNA and show no yield penalties in multi-location field trials!
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

(3/3) Michael brings his expertise in precision phenotyping and remote sensing to our work on disease resistance in rice. At the moment, he is evaluating the agronomic performance of our latest rice lines in the field under real environmental conditions.

#IamHealthyCrops #RiceResearch #PlantScience

(2/3) His work helps improve drought and nutrient efficiency screening in crops like cassava and rice. Why does this matter?
Boosting efficiency in how we observe plants means faster, more accurate crop improvement. It’s essential for meeting global food demands under pressure from climate change.

(1/3) 🌾 Meet Dr. Michael Gomez Selvaraj, senior scientist at CIAT (@bioversityciat.bsky.social ) in Colombia, and one of our PIs at Healthy Crops.

Michael leads CIAT’s plant phenomics platform in Colombia, where he develops cutting-edge tools for monitoring plant traits.

The HHU Ideas Competition, organized by CEDUS promotes entrepreneurship at HHU by encouraging creative thinking and spotlighting start-up ideas from students, researchers, and staff across all disciplines.

Picture Copyright: Amir Ouadahi, paint the town studios

Four members of the Healthy Crops Project standing on a stage in front of an orange banner reading “HHU Ideenwettbewerb.” They are smiling and holding a framed certificate and a red trophy marked “3.” The banner includes the logo of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. The scene is bright and celebratory, indicating a prize-giving event.

🥳 Healthy Crops was awarded 3rd place in the 2025 @hhu.de Ideas Competition! 🏆

Out of 100+ submissions, our concept to create disease-resistant crops using genome editing was recognized for its innovation and impact!

Thanks to everyone supporting our efforts!
#GenomeEditing #PlantScience

A person giving a scientific presentation at a lit lectern with a conference logo on a stage. A slide is shown with information about verifying transgene-free plants

Wolf Frommer presents work from @healthycrops.bsky.social, a global collaboration to work on bacterial blight of rice.

They are transferring transgene-free, genome edited rice to different countries, with legal frameworks in place, to test resistance to Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae.
#2025ISMPMI

Great to see two teams from the Plant Science and #QBIO communities making it to the podium at yesterday’s HHU Ideas Competition by #CEDUS! 🌱🧠
Exciting projects and well deserved — very curious to watch these ideas grow! 🚀👏 @healthycrops.bsky.social @plantgen-hhu.bsky.social

Closing the Information Gap Between the Field and Scientific Literature for Improved Disease Management, with a Focus on Rice and Bacterial Blight | Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions® A path to sustainably reduce world hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition is to close the crop yield gap and, particularly, lower losses due to pathogens. Breeding resistant crops is key to achievi...

📚 #PaperTrails - How can we better manage crop diseases?
In a recent publication, we argue for better pathogen monitoring, clearer resistance reporting & smarter deployment of resistant varieties.
Big thanks to @elizaloopi.bsky.social & everyone involved!
#plantpathology #bacterialblight #rice

(3/3)
Why is she working on this? "Cereals make up the bulk of the energy sources of food, a basic need for everyone. Food insecurity is a real threat in Sub-saharan Africa including Kenya. Through my research, I hope to contribute to a food secure nation and region."

#IamHealthyCrops

(2/3)
She is also working on advancing nitrogen fixation in finger millet. Emily is currently leading field trials under real world conditions for some of our blight-resistant rice lines, testing how them under the local pathogenic pressure they were created for.